Luke 9:51-62

"Make yourself at home." I like those words, especially after a long journey. It is good to be able to put my feet up and make myself comfortable, to rest my feet and relax.

"Make yourself at home." That is what you say when you want someone to make themselves comfortable. It is the polite and thoughtful thing to say to someone who has been on a journey. It says, "Relax, and stop your wandering for a while." It invites a person to stay where they are so that you can visit with them.

What if you came to someone's house and they said, "Don't make yourself at home." We would all be taken aback. "What a mean thing to say" we would think. Some of us would even tell the ungracious host that very fact. Such a statement would be an insult. "Don't make yourself at home" seems like something you might say to an enemy. That statement says "I don't want you to stay here. So don't relax, just keep moving.

Don't make yourself at home. That is basically what Jesus told those who wanted to follow him. Someone came to Jesus saying that they wanted to become one of his followers. We think Jesus should have welcomed this person. Jesus should have said, "Oh that is so kind of you to offer yourself like that." Just make yourself at home. Here, sleep on my bed. Are you comfortable? Would you like another pillow? But Jesus' response to this would-be-disciple sounds more like a rebuttal. "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but I have no place to lay my head." Instead of encouraging this follower wan-a-be, Jesus discourages him.

Next Jesus asks some people to become his followers. Evidently he had scared all the volunteers away by telling them about the living condition of a follower. Several of the people respond favorably. One says, "I will follow you, but first let me bury my Father." He simply wants to spend the last few days or years of his fathers life with him. But Jesus said, "Let the dead bury the dead." Another says, "I will follow you, just let me go and say a proper good-by to everyone." A simple enough request, surely Jesus would grant it. Instead Jesus says that people like him, who look back, are not fit for the Kingdom.

Many were and are shocked and troubled by Jesus' response to these prospective followers. They either volunteered themselves or responded positively to Jesus' invitation. Jesus should have encourage their interest. He should have worked with them. But Jesus didn't make it any easier for them, instead he made it harder. He told them to expect to have no home, not even a pillow if they followed him. He even told them to disregard the family ties that they had. So many rejected Jesus, that is what these passages are about this morning: people rejecting the call to discipleship.

Some people reject Jesus' call to be disciples because they don't want to leave the comfort of home, but there are other reasons? Consider the Samaritans. If you remember they were the ones who told Jesus not to make himself at home. They told him he wasn't welcome because they didn't like where he was going. The Samaritans and the Jews had a lot of religious arguments. And they hated each other because the Jews said God should be worshipped in Jerusalem. But the Samaritans said God should be worshipped in the mountains. Many Jews avoided the Samaritans. If Jews had to get to the other side of Samaria they would go around it rather than go through it. But Jesus went right through it because he loved them. On this occasion Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem to worship. The Samaritans did not believe in going to Jerusalem to worship so they refused to receive Jesus. They didn't like his destination so they rejected him.

People today do the same thing. They don't agree with what Jesus is doing so they refuse to cooperate. But Christ is on his way to glorify God. Some people don't like Christ's goal of reconciling people to God through forgiveness. They say, "Don't forgive him, he's a murderer. Don't forgive her she's an adulterer." The people were very upset when they brought the woman caught in the act of adultery to Jesus and he wouldn't let them stone her.

That is what was wrong with the disciples that day. They didn't want to forgive. The Samaritans had rejected them and they were mad. So they said, "Lord condemn those people. Call fire down on them." But Jesus refused. Many people don't like it when Jesus sets out to reconcile people to each other or to God. They what Jesus to rain fire down on them, not heal them. So they refuse Christ's forgiving Spirit a home in their hearts.

"Don't make yourself at home." Those words make me feel uncomfortable. I remember a young man who made me uncomfortable. Like Jesus he had no place to lay his head. I don't remember his name, but we can call him Sam. I met Sam at a soup kitchen. He was a regular there. At night he either stayed at a shelter or on the street. And each day he came for one hot meal at the soup kitchen.

The reason I remember Sam is that he was so much like me. I was a sophomore in college, and he was a young man about twenty. He was interested in astronomy and so was I. In fact I think that is what called him to my attention. One day he was trying to convince one of the volunteers that the earth was closer to the sun in the winter than in the summer. The volunteer said, "No, then why is it hotter in the summer." I informed the volunteer that Sam was right. It's the tilt of the earth that causes the season and in fact the earth is closer to the sun in the winter. Sam and I talked for a while. And Sam shared with me a list of his accumulated facts about the size of each planet and its distance from the sun. All of it was correct! He knew what he was talking about.

How ironic! Sam knew the precise place of all the planets yet he had no place to lay his head. How like the people of our world he was. So many know so much and yet personally they are lost. We can work technological wonders, yet we are emotionally and spiritually homeless. How much like me Sam was. I know I have been like that from time to time. Like Sam knowing all the facts but still being personally lost.

Now here's a thought. Maybe that's why Jesus had no place to lay his head. Maybe he chose to leave the comfort of his heavenly home to become homeless because so many of God's children were spiritually homeless. And where would I be if he had not chosen to have no place to lay his head. I would still be spiritually lost, like Sam.

"Don't make yourself at home"- to us that is a call to discipleship. Jesus said the Son of Man has no place to lay his head. And he calls us to choose the same way. Now I'm not telling you to sell the farm and walk the streets of Columbia like a bag lady. I am speaking of being spiritually on the move always. Never resting and making yourselves comfortable.

Discipleship is not an easy life. Jesus made that clear in our lesson today. It is a life of constant change. To follow, we will have to count our relationship to Jesus as more important than our family and friends. And sometimes people will reject us because we seek God's will. Sometimes it means showing love to people who make us uncomfortable.

But the benefits are worth it. Followers of Christ cannot make themselves at home during their spiritual journey, but they do have company. God's Son calls us to be spiritually homeless in the world, but he will be homeless with us. And while we are homeless in this world, those who follow Christ will have a home in the next.

"Don't make yourself at home." If you take time to rest spiritually, you will die spiritually. You might as well bury yourself. But if you abandon your home place so that you can follow Jesus, you will have eternal life. Let's move on!

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2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14

Sometimes it is hard to let go and move on. There are times when we have been blessed by a person or a place or an event, and it's difficult when it is time to move on. Sometimes a place can become significant to us like that. Perhaps God has blessed us by the beauty or the peacefulness of a place. Perhaps the people of place have blessed us. And, when the time comes, it is hard to leave.

When I was in high school our youth choir used to go to Lake Junaluska. Those weeks in the mountains were wonderful! I loved music and music was all we did those weeks. Youth choirs from all over the southeast would gather to sing. We would learn new songs and sing old ones. And if you have ever been to Lake Junaluska you know the beauty. It's a small lake surrounded by mountains in North Carolina. In the mornings you can see the clouds resting on the mountains and above the lake there is a large lighted cross that can be seen from all over. Lake Junaluska is an assembly run by the Southeastern Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church. It's almost like the whole town is Methodist. Can you imagine a church the size of a town - well that's it. And of course there was the fellowship. 50 youth went with us each year. And we all stayed in one house with the girls upstairs and boys downstairs. Somehow I felt close to God in that place. I don't know if it was the Christian atmosphere or the thin air. But it was like heaven's doorstep.

But as is always the case the time came to leave. The last night we would all go up to the cross and sing until we were hoarse and then we would go back to the lodge and pack. It was hard to leave. But moving on is part of life. Whether it is leaving home or leaving a job or leaving school.

That's where Elisha is when we meet him. Elisha had been Elijah's companion in ministry. You have to go all the way back to 1 Kings 19 to find when they started traveling together. In a way Elijah had been Elisha's mentor. Elisha had seen the power of God at work in Elijah. He had seen miracles and wonders revealed through Elijah's ministry. Being with Elijah and watching him must have seemed almost like being with God himself.

But chapter 2 of 2 Kings opens by saying that the time was near for Elijah to be taken away. But Elisha can't seem to let go. Three times Elijah asks Elisha to stay in a place while he goes on a little further. But Elisha refuses. He vows to stay with Elijah to the bitter end. Twice companies of prophets ask Elisha to stay and let Elijah go on to his reward. But Elisha's response is, "Just be quiet!"

Finally Elijah comes to a stream and he rolls up his cloak and parts the water much in the way that Moses parted the red sea and Joshua parted the Jordan. It is as if Elisha has not only crossed over to the other side of a river but to the "other side" and escorted Elijah to the very gates of heaven. Elijah knows and Elisha knows that God will come and get him soon. As they are waiting Elijah asks, "What do you want Elisha?" Almost like a father speaking to a child right before a long business trip away. The father says, "What should I bring you," and the child names something that will make them happy. Elisha says, "I want double the presence of God I have known while I have been with you." He asks a lot but Elijah says "If you see me taken away you will know that presence." And the chariots of God come and take Elijah away and Elisha cries, "Father Father," and tears his cloak in grief. Then he picks up the mantle that represents Elijah's calling and parts the water of the Jordan.

It makes me think of the situation Jesus' disciples faced in the Mount of Transfiguration. Jesus had taken them to the very gates of heaven. There they stood on the Mount with Jesus transfigured; glowing with an unworldly glory. They were surrounded by the glory of God. Moses and Elijah were standing there with them. And what did Peter say? "Let's set up camp."

I am sure he wanted to stay there. Everything was so clear. Jesus was there with Moses the giver of the Law and Elijah the greatest prophet. They had the glory of God and anything else they needed. So Peter couldn't let go.

God didn't need to ask what Peter needed. The Father knew. And God said, "This is my Son, listen to him." God knew they needed the glory and the presence that they were seeing in Jesus. So God just told them, "You have Jesus. That's all you really need."

These two stories of glory and divine presence teach us some very important lessons. First of all, it is hard to let go sometimes. It is difficult to move on from some happy or blessed event. When a family member dies or a chapter in our lives end, it is painful. We mourn the things that are left behind. We sorrow to leave the memories.

And that's O.K. God understands. God understood Elisha and God understood Peter. God didn't chide Elisha for not heeding the prophets' advice or criticize Peter for saying, "Let's set up camp." God understands. And Elisha mourned the loss of Elijah who had been like a Father to him.

It's the same for us. God doesn't blame us for not wanting to go on. And God understands the pain of our loss.

Which brings us to the other lesson these stories teach us. God not only understands but God gives us what we need to go on. Elisha had seen the presence of God working through Elijah. He needed that presence to remain with him. So through Elijah God gave Elisha twice what he needed, a double share of his Spirit. And God enabled him to part the waters that blocked his path.

Peter, James, and John had seen Moses and Elijah and the glories of heaven. They needed some of that glory to help them make it back down the mountain. They couldn't just leave that place. So God told them, "Here is my Son. Look to him." And they could know that they were not leaving that glory behind. God's glory in the flesh would be walking down that mountain with them.

And so God goes with us. Because God understands, God goes with us as we move on. God's presence in the living Christ and the Holy Spirit comfort and strengthen us as we head into the valleys of this life. And God is at work removing the obstacles to us moving on, parting the rivers that stand in our way.

I don't know where you are in your journey through life today. You may be facing some time of change and loss. I am sure there are people hearing my voice in all sorts of situations. Some may be trying to move on from the loss of a loved one. Some may be leaving school or family or home or may be facing difficult decisions. Some may be facing the imminent loss of health or loved ones or life.

No matter where you are, headed toward change or moving on from it, God is with you. God knows your pain and fear and God understands. But more importantly God knows what you need to move on and God has already provided it. What you need is God's glory and presence to be with you.

So to all who are facing moving on and may be having trouble doing it, I present to you Jesus the beloved Son of God. Look to him! See his glory and know that Jesus the Son of God is with you wherever you go.